And the theme for the night was ... disappointment

Ever paid for something, to be somewhere and while you’re there you are mentally adding up in your head how many people paid to be there and what there must be in the bank account of the event group? Ever then start adding up what the cost of the event was and see a giant discrepancy and want to gouge your eyeballs out due to sheer anger?

Oh, hi, did I mention my class reunion was last weekend?

The theme was pirates of the Caribbean – which I can only assume they came up with after buying this cheap treasure chest from Oriental Trading Company which sat on the check in table. NOTHING ELSE was piratey or Caribbeany. The theme for the night should have been disappointment.

I’m not saying I want this job in 10 years, but I am saying I could have done a much better job. I have a few issues with the way things went down. And they’re kind of rambly because I just typed as I thought of them.

First of all, there should have been a breakdown of the cost for the afternoon event and the evening event, if you chose to attend just 1 of the 2 you should only have to pay for the one you attended. Second of all, you should not be able to show up and pay at the door. There should be a deadline to RSVP, you cannot plan an event based on an unknown number of attendees. A monetary surplus is inexcusable, because this is not a for profit deal. And those who paid ahead should have pictures on their name tags, and those who didn't should not - not the other way around.

Why did we fill out those little forms about what we’re up to? Why weren’t there awards? Most kids? Most successful? Living furthest from “home”? Ehh – I need more time to ruminate, but I could have come up with a good 10 or so awards. Why was there not more than plastic trays of food? For the amount of money we paid, there should have been more decent catering. I’m not saying there had to be a sit down meal, but it could have been actually catered – like we were told it would be. Why was there not a cash bar? Nothing says “classy” like hauling a cooler in while dressed in cocktail attire.

What’s going to happen to the pictures taken that night? Are they available for purchase? He certainly didn’t take the time to photo graph each person, so it’s not like I would buy a huge set of photos. Is there a scrapbook being put together somewhere? Will it be at the next reunion? What’s the point? What about the DVD? Who the hell is going to watch a DVD of their 10 year reunion? Totally unnecessary.

What happened to all the questions about what giveaways should be? There were no giveaways. There were 2 items in the drawing at the end of the night, one was a digital picture frame which was fine and the other was a picture frame mat. Whose idea was it to have everyone sign a picture frame mat and give that away? What is anyone going to do with that? Should I have a picture of my class hanging in my house somewhere? I highly doubt it.

They need to publish a ledger now. I realize that some people paid as little as $35/head, and some paid as much as $55/head. I really am interested to see what was spent where. And what the balance in the account is at this time.

I compare this event to a wedding, only because by my own estimation about 100 or so people attended. 100 people at an average of $45/head – is $4500 they had to work with. Take a wedding reception, replace nuptials with awards, adjust the cost of the flowers into the awards, and you have a much better reunion for roughly the same price. I know it can be done. I’ve been personally involved in at least 2 of similar cost.

Beyond my disappointment for not getting what I paid for, I saw people that I hadn’t seen in a long time, I talked to a few people I probably wouldn’t have otherwise seen again. But it felt very much like high school, where the people you see anyway are the people you’re sitting with all evening long. I know I was not the only one who was disappointed.

The Modernish Father has a pretty good wrap up of the night.

Yea Boo

I started my new job Monday. Since I was coming back to a company I previously worked for, I did not have to attend the safety training and sexual harassment training, so HR released me and I threw my department manager’s schedule off. It’s such a relief to be somewhere that they actually have work for me. I’ve already done more work here than I did in the past 6 weeks at my old job. And it feels great; it’s exactly why I had to leave. Although, apparently I’m not smart enough to program my speed dial buttons on my phone.

Oh, and I’m wearing jeans today – at work – on a Thursday (and also Tuesday and Wednesday) – and I didn’t have to pay for the privilege. I may actually get to finally retire my maternity clothes (and therefore prevent any future Kris Kross incidents.)

I also had my first and second day of my Legal/Ethics class, for which the teacher was 45 minutes late – he thought it started at 5:30 and was only 15 minutes late, and I parked in a parking garage that I thought was going to cost me $10.50, and I about had a heart attack after I read that sign, but had no way to get out – but thank goodness they validate parking. Also, I discovered their weird system by which I can leave the 7th floor to go to my truck on the 5th floor, but if I - and I'm just hypothetically talking here - say forgot my cell phone and parking ticket (with validation) in a bathroom stall on the 7th floor, I have to then go down and get the security guard to let me back up on the 7th floor. Not that that happened to me or anything.

Meanwhile, Clint spent his first and second evening alone with Landon. He had said on Sunday that he was going to do some laundry and try and clean up a little too…and I laughed and laughed. And he thought I was being mean. I got home Monday night and he had very wide eyes, and he said “I didn’t get anything else done!” And I said “I told you so.” But he did it and they both survived, just like I knew they would.

This has been a week of ups and downs, so I thought we’d play the yea/boo game…ready…

I started working at Mustang … yea!

I forgot some of the stuff I needed for my direct deposit … boo!

They let me out of nearly half the orientation because I’d already had the training … yea!

I can’t figure out how to program my speed dial buttons on my phone … boo!

They actually have work for me to do … yea!

The commute is longer … boo!

The commute is not as bad as I thought it would be … yea!

We had a sewer back up in our house … boo!

When the guys came to investigate that, they also made note of the water main leak in front of our house … yea!

They did not fix it … boo!

But they’re going to … yea!

Our baby sitter’s air conditioner is broken … boo!

I found out my results from my PE exam … yea!

I did not pass … boo!

I know what I need to work on for next time … yea!

I was so close it made me madder than if I had totally bombed it … boo!

And to end on a yea…in talking with the people in my current class, the class I’m going to register for in August will most assuredly make and I will be able to register to take the inspectors exam…yea!

Change of Scenery

I quit my job.


Yesterday was my last day.

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Relax - I start somewhere else doing almost exactly the same thing on Monday.

But I thought it might be prudent to show you the things that made me wonder about my current..former...workplace.

This is the only sign on the escalator that make a reference to bare feet, because the people on the third floor were always taking off their shoes and driving their vacuums on the escalators.


Someone taped an obituary to the wall by the water fountain. Maybe they worked here, but really? Taped to the wall? By the water fountain?

Oh, and as a special bonus; I get to attend my 10 year class reunion - technically unemployed!

Kris Kross

Maybe it’s because I didn’t get enough sleep that night.

I had been at work a mere 3 hours. I had been dressed for 4 hours by the time I needed to go to the bathroom.

At which point I discovered…my pants were on backwards. And NO ONE TOLD ME.

Hippie Chick / Small Change Challenge #5

This month’s challenge is to get out there and clean up a local park or playground. I’m going to twist this into “do something for the environment.” We pretty much never go to the park or a playground. For one thing, my non-walking child doesn’t really mesh with the playground equipment that’s available. And his tolerance for being in the stroller doesn’t even last long enough to walk down to the park, much less around it or back from it.

I stumbled across a blog a while back. It’s extreme. It’s about a guy and his wife and toddler who live in NYC and they’re spending a year doing an experiment by which they try to live with no net impact to the environment. Knowing that they will have some impact no matter what, for those things they do proactive things for the environment – replanting trees, etc. So they’re going in phases, reducing trash, not buying new items (except food), buying locally grown food, going vegetarian, not using electricity (his laptop is powered by a solar cell). They’re in NYC, so giving up the car is easier for them.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about what I do and used to do for the environment. When I first started caring about the environment I started with cutting up those plastic rings that 6-packs come in. I made everyone in our family napkin rings and we used cloth napkins. I also made my parents start recycling. They still recycle, but have given up the cloth napkins.

And coming full cycle, I’m now trying to figure out what change I can make to help the environment now.

So I brought out the cloth napkins. Hey, guess what, I’m finally using one of my wedding presents, Thank you nonsoccermom and Modernish Father!!! We already plan errands to conserve drive time. I already don’t litter, and I already do what I can to conserve water. So technically with the bringing out of the cloth napkins I’ve already completed this challenge.

Our city also has a recycling program, where we can bring in items to drop off. And eventually I’d like to do that, but for now, I don’t have the time or energy to do it.

I will soon have no excuse

In October of 2005 Clinton bought me a GPS. So I could go geocaching. [Link to geocache.com] I thought it would be a neat way to accidentally get some exercise without mentioning to my body what I was technically up to (because it totally shuts down when it hears the word, so keep it down). I had a wonderful time doing the geocaching right up until I got pregnant and fell asleep for 9 months. And then for the past 7 months, I’ve been all “oh the pool is too cold” and “it’s raining” and “I can’t hold him AND the GPS.”

Well, I’m out of excuses now, because the pool is warm enough, the motor is fixed. And we bought a float that he sits in and I use as a kickboard. And he’s big enough to put in the back position in the carrier for geocaching. And for Mother’s day, I got a kickstand and a seat for him and a helmet for him for my bike.

(He didn't care much for the helmet and spent his entire first bike ride desperately trying to take it off.)

Retail Therapy

Ever been upset and someone suggests you spend money? Yeah, cause if I’m upset, what I need to do it go out and spend money that I probably need to pay a bill, so I will be sadder when the bill comes in and I can’t afford it and they shut off my electricity and I die. What? Too dramatic?

Ok fine, I just don’t understand retail therapy. I have never felt better after buying stuff, much less stuff I don’t need, much less expensive stuff I don’t need.

And so, my apologies to the salespeople and other customers for melting into a puddle of goo on the floor of Best Buy last weekend when I discovered that my coveted laptop had been $150 cheaper the day before. I did not mean to stain your shoes. Oh and kudos to whoever’s fine idea it was to change the prices, but not remove last week’s sale prices so I would know that. I get that your computer wasn’t working or whatever and you had to handwrite the prices, but you could have cut off the old price from the old tag.

Never have I spent so much money on something I could neither sit in or on.

I don’t know why Clinton appointed last weekend as “Laptop or Die” weekend. I don’t know why I went along with it. I certainly didn’t need it yet. And now, I’m afraid to touch it. I have had it almost a week, and I have yet to touch it more than to verify that it does turn on and what programs I may need.

Eventually I'll get used to it, I know, and eventually, I'll have an internet connection and I can post my blog from it and I will be able to post more often, but I'm not promising I will, I'm just saying I could.

Body Part Donation

I already blogged about the bone marrow donation, and how they were going to send me a kit.

I did something else too.

I did this:



I’ve been losing my hair – apparently there’s post partum hair loss, yet another side effect I had no knowledge of and was not experiencing until someone mentioned it. So I decided I should cut it for Locks of Love. I made the decision to do it about a month ago, I decided to do it in August. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought about how much damage I was going to cause it by being in the pool all summer. This weekend provided the perfect culmination of events. Clint’s cousin Shelly sometimes cuts hair at family functions. I would ask if she would cut mine. I didn’t tell anyone but Clint and Clint, being that he’s been begging me to cut my hair for like 83,000 years now, immediately flipped open his phone to call and ask if she would be cutting hair and if she’d do mine. I also wanted to make sure she’d be ok with the long cut. Some hairdressers don’t want to do it. She said she’d love to. And I still didn’t mention it to anyone. At least not until a couple hours prior.

Anyway – I’m pretty happy with the result:

Monthly Newsletter #8

Dear Landon,

I saw you do it for the first time 3 days ago, you didn’t really want to, it seemed like more of an effort than it was worth to you, but you did do it, so I know you can. Oh sure, you put forth the effort to appear to be crawling, you lay on your tummy pull your knees up under you, rock back and forth, then put your legs out behind you again and flail your knees about, grabbing the floor with your grubby little palms, you pull forward ala an army man. But you have no real interesting in being on your hands and knees, you prefer standing. You prefer standing so much, that you may just walk before you crawl and all I can say is “PLEASE DON’T!”

We finally had your border put up in your bedroom. We had to pay someone else to do it, because apparently we’re too dumb to put up a stinkin’ border. Actually according to the lady we hired, we were lied to about what extra glue we should put on it. We were lied to by people who SELL wallpaper…it’s their job to know what to put on it to make it stick and they said, “Here use this chewing gum.” Anyway, it’s up, and it’s cute. We have a new rocking chair we still haven’t put together, and your toys are more or less uncontained in your room. And at this rate, your nursery might be finished in time for you to move on to college. I hope I can still lift you over the crib rail by then.

This has been a month of road trips. Can I just ask up front that you tell me what exactly we need when we go on these trips? Quite frankly, I’m tried of over-packing. Can you tell in advance that you will not be as hungry as usual? Or that this will be the one time we take a trip where I don’t need the nasal aspirator? Or that you’re going to actually go a full day without a second or third change of clothes?

We went to Lake Limestone for an overnight; you had your first dip in a lake. You were a little concerned that the water wasn’t as clear as your pool, but you quickly decided that was ok, and maybe it should be tasted anyway. You splashed around a lot. And you nearly worried Scarlett to death, since she couldn’t get to you and why would you even go out so far as that anyway? “Float, Schmoat, and I don’t really care if Mom was right there beside you, sometimes a dog has to check on her hairless puppy, and you know I don’t swim.” You were supposed to start fruits this month, and you did have your first taste of watermelon, which you prefer to suck on from the rind. You loved what was essentially watermelon flavored sugar water. In the real business of introducing foods, we tried applesauce, and everyone said once you tasted fruit you wouldn’t eat vegetables, and that’s not exactly true, you’ll still eat the vegetables, but you have to have them first in the meal.

This month will forever go down in history as the teething month from hell. You having been trying to pop 14 bazillion teeth out of your poor little gums for so long, it’s hard to remember the last day you got to go with out Tylenol or Motrin. Your pain varies from “eh…something is bothering me” to “someone must be trying to pull my toenails out with pliers.” I’m trying my hardest not to over medicate you, but the toenail scream deserves something I think.

We also went to Gun Barrel, where your grandfather had bought a wagon. Your father and I worked to put it together, and probably would have been more successful if they had actually included all the parts you need. Or at least made them look like they do in the drawings. Also, they should include a couple extra of the small parts, since, deck boards are not the most forgiving place to be dropping 10 mm washers, or lock washers or tiny tiny hub cabs. We also put the screws that hold the wooden slats on backwards, but we did it on purpose and there was method to our madness, we didn’t want you scratching yourself up on them while sitting in the wagon.

This weekend, we went to your Great Uncle John’s Memorial service. We stayed in a hotel Friday night, it was you first time in a hotel. We met up with your Aunt Kathleen and her clan and went to the best steakhouse EVAH. Just ask your uncle Austin about it, I’m sure he’ll still be talking about it in 10 years.

The memorial service was nice, the lake was pretty and people said a lot of nice things about Uncle John. I wish you had gotten to know him.

All in all it was a decent month, but I hope you don’t mind if we hermit ourselves up and don’t go anywhere for a while. Between the terrible sleep patterns when we’re not at home and the price of gas right now, I don’t think we can afford to go anywhere anyway.

Love,

Mom

Uncle John

We knew this was coming, although I’m not really sure we thought it would be THIS soon. But I couldn’t really get a grasp on what to say. But the one thing that kept coming back in my mind was Astroworld.

When I was little I used to wish I was just a little bit older, it seemed to me that Uncle John was always taking the older kids to Astroworld and I SO wanted to be included. But I was too young or too short, so I wasn’t allowed to go. And by the time I was big enough the older kids were no longer interested and he wasn’t taking them anymore, and his youngest was too small when they moved to Dallas. But I remember him taking his kids and my sisters. And I remember seeing him as the cool uncle who takes you to cool places and I vowed to be that cool aunt for my nieces and nephews. Kathy claims she only got to go once, but it was the very best time she ever had at Astroworld. Astroworld was leveled at the end of 2005, and though I did eventually get to go to Astroworld through the church or clogging or with school, I still always associated Astroworld with my Uncle John.

We’re also one of those “house divided” families between A&M and UT. Uncle John’s side rooting for UT, and Mom’s side rooting for A&M. It’s an all in good fun rivalry, everyone makes sure to bring their college paraphernalia and wear their respective shirts for the big day. Now that we do Thanksgiving on Saturday, the winning team is absolutely sure to wear theirs, and the losing team is not so interested in discussing the game with anyone, but they wear their hats and still boast proud. The truth is that we all know they’re both good schools, and you have to pick a school based on your major, so whatever you choose is really fine.

Uncle John lost his battle with leukemia a couple weekends ago. When this started we all thought that they’d caught it early and that we’d all be “happily ever aftering” by now. It’s been quite the roller coaster, in the beginning he responded well to treatment and the prognosis was good. He was in remission for a short period of time, and then they found more. They tried everything they could. He fought long and hard, and in the end it just didn’t lie down and submit like it was supposed to. I hate cancer.

For the past few years our extended family has gathered (and hopefully will continue to gather) at my parents’ lake house for Thanksgiving. Uncle John and Aunt Mindy always come. Kerri and Adam and their 2 sons always come. Sometimes Johnny (although he wants to be called John now that he’s an adult) makes it, sometimes Andrea makes it. And we have a fun weekend. A couple Thanksgivings ago, the family gathered as usual and amid the chatter I heard a little person’s voice say something to “Uncle John.” And I thought, “Uncle John’s outside.” It was one of Kerri’s sons – so my Uncle John is actually Grandpa to him. He wasn’t talking to my Uncle John he was talking to his uncle John, my Uncle John’s son. May he see his Uncle John the way I saw mine.

Small Change Challenge #3 & #4

Well, crap. Last month’s challenge was to clean out your closets and donate stuff to charity. And I had every intention of doing that, but last month seriously went by in a flash and I have no idea where it went (well, I kind of do, wedding, PE exam, sewing). So, I promised to do it this month. And we did.

5 full garbage bags, plus one box. 4garbage bags and the box care of Clinton, one from me (actually one bag has both of our stuff in it.)

What? Clint has WAY more clothes than I do. And he continuously buys clothes and refuses to throw any away. We had a deal by which for each new clothing item he got, he owed me one – one for charity – one for the trash, whatever, I’m not picky. He’s been sneaking new shirts by me a lot lately, he thinks I don’t know, but I do. He tries to make sure he’s the one who does the laundry when he has a new shirt to hide, but then forgets that I will eventually do the laundry and once he wears a new shirt I will totally see it. So he’s been busted.

Anyway the bags are headed for the local Woman’s Shelter Shop, where they are sold and profits are used to help battered women.

This month’s challenge is to donate blood or join the bone marrow donor registry.

Giving blood is easy – I did it 2 or 3 times in high school, before they started rejecting me for having had a piercing within the past year. I haven’t done it since; it’s always been one thing or another, whether it was a piercing, or pregnancy. The local donation center is not open at the best times for me, but if they bring a donation van to work for a blood drive, as they occasionally do, I’ll make an appointment to donate. With AB+ blood, I have the worst blood type as far as donations are concerned. However, I’m the best victim since I can receive anyone’s blood. To give my blood away they have to find someone who is also AB+, and to add insult to injury, AB+ is a relatively rare blood type, so my blood donation is about as useful as a pair of weak glasses to a nearly blind man.

Moving on, when my uncle was diagnosed with leukemia, my mother went down to get tested to see if she was the right type for him. They said the best match is usually a sibling, but they also said the best match is usually a pre-pubescent sibling. Unfortunately, my mother was not a match. This means that the bone marrow transplants he’s had, have been from the registry. Someone he doesn’t know took the time to go down to the bone marrow transplant place, in some cases paid $52 or more (pays for testing and typing which is not always covered depending on where you go) to join a registry on the off chance they might be able to save some stranger’s life, and then when they were called – they didn’t make an excuse, they came in and underwent a painful procedure to donate, for a stranger.

Right now, you can join the registry for free without leaving the comfort of your cozy little nest on the couch. (Actually I suppose, you have to check the mail.) I just did it, it took less than 5 minutes to fill out the questionnaire, and they are sending me a kit to do cheek swabs. The drive is being sponsored, so that aforementioned $52 is being paid by someone else.

I’d like to encourage you to do it, but it’s not that easy a decision to make. I’m not going to encourage you to do it if you don’t see yourself being able to actually donate when and if the time comes. The registry is no good if the people on it won’t do it when called upon. When and if the time comes it is not easy or painless, but I don’t think leukemia is easy either. People have been interviewed post donation and they said “Yes, it hurt, but I would do it again, to help save someone’s life.” There are certain health issues, and age restrictions on donating, but the questionnaire will weed you out if you’re…uh… weedy. Here’s the link.

Just push him down and say "NO" firmly

This was the advice of the guy at the sandwich shop we ate at on Saturday, in regards to this and what comes next:

Monthly Newsletter #7

Dear Landon,

I swear last time I wrote one of these you were on the verge of crawling. You still are. You scooch along pretty well, you’ve discovered the secret to going forward, and now if you could just lift your big ole milk belly off the floor, I’d be chasing you around the house.

This month marks your first foray into solid food. You liked the cereal, you LOVED the sweet potatoes, you tolerated the squash. We’ve still got green beans and carrots to go, and then we move on to fruit. There are still other vegetables to be tried, but we’ll work those in later. Much to your father’s amusement, I try everything I put in your mouth. If I won’t put it in my mouth, I don’t know how I can expect you to put it in yours. Somehow the baby food manufacturers have managed to create a product that smells exactly like the thing on the label, but tastes like a watered down version of it.


Your father and I finally got around to putting your car together. Your grandmother had requested it for your overnight, and the only reason we hadn’t put it together yet is that you were just barely big enough for it at that point.

We also finally took the cart thingy out of the box that your Aunt Kelly gave you for Christmas. (Actually we did that to keep you occupied while we put the car together, and also because of your attraction to plastic bags you needed a diversion – like a new toy and its box)


You stayed over at your grandparents house for a couple nights this month and although you seemed to have a fine time, when we went to pick you up, you were not about to let me out of your sight.

You have successfully transitioned to the crib, for the most part, although still not sleeping through the night. And your father and I both appreciate the morning you let us sleep in until 9:45, at which point we found you playing quietly with the toys in your crib. Let's try for some more of those kinds of mornings!

Love,

Mom

Small Change Deferred

This month went by entirely too fast and I did not go through our closets. I will be going through them this weekend though and will post about that then.

This month's challenge is to either donate blood or sign up for the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. Last time I gave blood was in high school. I'm not sure they'll let me do it now because of having ababy within the past year, but I'll find out.

To Post or Not to Post

How do you know it’s been too long since your last post? Is it because your camera is full and you can no longer take pictures until you take the time to actually take some off – and possibly share them with the world at large? Nope, or this would have happened last week some time. Is it because something vaguely amusing happened and you have a funny story to tell? Nope, or this would have happened last Monday. And then you don’t post and you don’t post and you don’t post and all you can think about is the fact that you haven’t posted and how hard it will be to come up with a decent post to come back. And then you post this drivel anyway: (Rewind you clocks to April 13, 2007, as that is when this story begins.)

Wouldn’t it just figure that when you finally get to skip off into the sunset without your kid that you’d get sick? I was full of snot for a few days prior to the wedding trip, and still am slightly.

Friday morning we headed to the EZ Tag store to iron out their stupidity. EZ Tag people need to get a new programmer. If a person breaks their new EZ Tag and calls to get a new one, and the customer service person changes their remaining good one to “Defective” and leaves the broken one as “Active,” and sends a new one, also marked “Active,” but you don’t check your account online, it can totally be a pain in the butt to fix. When the toll violation for the truck came I was completely annoyed that they should know that I have an EZ Tag, they should be able to look it up and fix it. Apparently I couldn’t just call and have them change the “Defective” one back to “Active.” They made me go in person to deal with it, instead of mailing me a new EZ Tag. They didn’t make me chose the trainee girl, but they didn’t have her clearly marked and admittedly I probably could have stomped my feet and gotten someone else who was faster to help me, but I let her be trained on me, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I walked in the door. It took them 35 minutes to fix it and give me a new tag. 35 minutes of my life I will never get back.

After the EZ Tag fiasco – which thankfully Landon slept through in the car with his daddy, who was ever fearful that the kid might wake and start howling, we went down to LJ and dropped off Landon, ran a couple errands, went by Target to pick up the stuff I forgot because for the very first time in my entire life I didn’t make a list prior to packing. And we headed off to the wedding festivities.

It was super windy and cold. Rehearsal dinner was very good. And I thought I was saying rather quietly to myself at the end of the night “Oh my God, I get to go sleep the WHOLE night.” As we got up to leave. I was not saying it quietly though, and the entire table laughed. They may have been laughing, but I woke up at 6:30, not having been up 2 times already and I was AWAKE!!! And well rested and felt like I could have conquered the world.

Bridesmaid luncheon was nice, and the wedding was nice, and it was quite possibly the EASIEST bridesmaid job ever. My second night of sleep didn’t go so well, but it was nice that I was starting to feel better anyway.

Sunday morning, we got up and packed everything up, we grabbed breakfast on our way out of town.

As it turns out, I’m the type of mother who does not call and check in on her child, I never did it when he was in Day Care, I never did it when Ashley or my Mom was watching him, and I don’t do it to Linda (Not to say, I’ve never called for other reasons though). I wouldn’t have left him if I didn’t trust the people he was with. Lots of people asked if I had called and checked in on him, and well, I know what it’s like to be dealing with him and have the phone ring. They gave me a kind of funny look when I said “no.” He survived and I survived, although I probably could have used another night or 2 for the sleeping.

My PE test was last Friday. They made me sign a non-disclosure agreement – which I find odd, since I figured they changed the test every time, but whatever. Suffice it to say that the morning was easier than I thought it would be and the afternoon was harder than I thought it would be. We took it in the club level of the Reliant Stadium (not in stadium seats, but at tables in the walkway). And now I wait. 12 weeks. 12. TWELVE!! So I will know July 13th. Maybe. If I don’t know by July 19th, they will start posting on the board’s webpage the results status (are they in, are the mailed, blah blah blah). And If I have to take the test again, I will have to register by August 31st, and will have to spend my birthday taking it. Let’s hope I don’t have to do that.

Which brings us to yesterday. When I got home I thought it odd that the pool was full of leaves and bird poop, since everything is supposed to run in the afternoon and I normally come home to a beautifully clean pool. I went to look at the timers and they’re sitting there pretending that it’s noon. So I tried to turn it on and it wouldn’t turn on, and Clint went to check the breaker and it had been flipped. He flipped it back and it shot flames at him. I turned everything off on my side and he flipped it, and when I turned it back on, I got flames from the motor. I guess we’re lucky we didn’t come home to a smoldering pile of house. So I called the pool guy and the motor itself is about $260, plus labor. And 14-18 days before they can make it out to the house – we will be pushed up as much as possible, since the pool is actually down, and it’s not just maintenance. In the meantime, we are to shock every 3-4 days with a pound or 2 of shock and net out as much as we can. And god help us, the birds of the neighborhood have decided that our pool is their bathroom, so it’s leaves and bird poo galore.

PS - I added some pictures to the Easter post.

Please don’t choke on the dust I leave behind

What was last Sunday? I can’t remember. Easter? Really? You wanted Easter pictures? You’ve been incessantly checking the blog on the off chance you might see a picture of a little person and an egg? And possibly his car shaped Easter basket? Fine. Here:

Landon and I found 5 eggs. Alas they were not golden or silver (aka money havin’). For his last egg, I sat him down for a photo op. And Ethan came by and snatched his egg right from between his legs. What? It’s not like he had picked it up yet or anything, that makes it fair game, right? Ethan’s mom made him give it back, and in the spirit of generosity Ethan gave an extra egg as well, and as he was about to empty his basket one by one into Landon’s, his Mom said “I just wanted you to give back the one you stole, not all of them!” The lessons a 2 year old has to learn. When to share, when not to share, righting a wrong, but not OVER-righting a wrong. To tell the truth, I don’t think Landon even cared about the missing egg. What the heck is the green stuff? It’s fun to grab and pull on, I wonder how it tastes.

And a picture of eleventy billion people in my front yard.

Easter by the #s

204 plastic eggs
30 boiled eggs
8 hunters
2 gallon bags of leftover candy
1 unfound egg

This weekend will be a milestone. This weekend will determine just what kind of neurotic mother I may be. Do I call and check in on him? Do I just assume everything is fine so long as I don’t get a call? I have a wedding on Saturday night in League City. I’m also in the wedding and thus must be a part of the rehearsal festivities. I’m also going to sleep under a different roof than my son for the very first time ever. For 2 nights. In a row. I can’t say I’m not worried about it (not that I’m leaving him with anyone I’m worried about), but I’m totally looking forward to the possibility of 2 full nights of sleep and 48 hours sans 17 lbs of squirmy butt in my arms. If you happen to be in or around LJ early Friday afternoon, don’t mind the sound of screeching tires and the smell of burnt rubber. Likewise, you will probably need to get out of my way on Sunday morning.

New foods

I still remember being on the playground at recess during either 4th or 5th grade talking to all the kids about how they liked or disliked certain foods. The consensus by nearly all of them was that liver and onions were disgusting. This however was not a conclusion I was able to draw, seeing as I had never actually eaten liver and onions, I just assumed they would be gross. But that day I went home and told mom that I would like to try liver and onions, because if I was going to complain about them, I needed to have some actual experience with them. She, not being a fan of liver and onions didn’t have any on hand, so she took me to Kroger where we only found chicken livers. I can’t remember whether they were any good or not, but they must not have been good enough to request again, because I never had them after that. To this day I have still never eaten liver, and I probably never will, because when my roommate in college came home from her food safety class she was required to take to work at McDonalds, she announced “when you boil liver, you have to be really careful because the water that remains is urine.” It was then that I came to the conclusion that eating the filter on an animal that cleans out the crap that the animal’s body didn’t think was good enough to digest, is probably not the smartest move anyway.

We ate plenty of vegetables as kids, but most of my “exotic” vegetable experiences were at other people’s houses. I ate my first asparagus at Mrs. Cox’s house, and my first artichoke at the Blankenship’s. (Yes, I just classified asparagus and artichokes as exotic – they were pretty exotic for the 80s.) My guess is that my mother just assumed that as a kid, I wouldn’t like these things and never messed with them, and then I came home and said “Hey, I tried asparagus and I liked it!” And she looked at me like I was crazy, but then occasionally we had asparagus after that.

About 2 years ago, I decided to try new foods, or re-try old foods, to see if my palate had changed. Quite honestly it started when I went to Julie’s rehearsal dinner and ate some very tasty things, I’m almost positive I never would have ordered myself. Since then I have been watching the food network and trying things at parties I might have otherwise passed over. I have introduced into my diet several pretty healthful options: mixed baby greens, non-ranch salad dressings, fresh herbs, and gnocchi. I even tried Indian food and I liked it!

Fast forward to today when I read “make sure to give your child a variety of foods, even ones you may not like, because he may like them.” So I look down the list of foods he’s going to get to try in pureed form (at 4 day intervals to watch for allergic reactions), and I only see two that I don’t like: cabbage and peaches. I can eat fresh cabbage, but cooked cabbage – blegh. Peaches, well I can see where people might like them, but I’m not a fan. Well, they also have Apricots on there, and maybe I’m misinformed, but apricots = peaches to me. And beets, once again, I cannot weigh in on the subject, as I’ve never had them. Maybe he’ll let me have a taste of his.

I’d like him to be adventurous with his food choices, and am willing to try new things right along side him…I’ve never had brussel sprouts or rutabaga either. And although I won’t eat them, I will totally fix him fish sticks. Should he come home one day and tell me how all the kids were complaining about liver and onions I will totally take him to Luby’s, because I don’t cook with urine.

Monthly Newsletter #6

Dear Landon,

This month’s newsletter has been particularly hard to write. It’s been a rough month for me, and let’s leave it at that. I generally start about a week before and try to keep track of changes you’ve made over the month. I haven’t really seen many changes this month. You sit up somewhat, but still need assistance – because you just fall over backwards if the wind hits you just right. You scoot backwards, so I fully expect to be chasing you down within the next couple weeks as you crawl away. But, other than that, you’re pretty much your 5 month old self, only 6 months old now.
You’re beginning to recognize things you see regularly and associate them with what that means for you. Your bathing suit and your float for the pool are both very exciting. And woe be to the person who shows you one or the other without actually putting them to use.
People are starting to ask when we’re going to have another one – as if you’re not a handful in your own rite. I need another baby, like I need a hole in my head. Your campaign to be an only child has been pretty successful so far.
Last night was our first attempt at solid foods. Well, semi-solid…ok – different liquid. It seems that you loved the idea of eating, but were not so much with the actual swallowing. It’s much more fun to blow bubbles into the spoon as it reaches your mouth, or better yet, wait until a spoonful is in your mouth and raspberry it out on the unsuspecting soul who put it in there.

Your doctor’s appointment went well this afternoon. You are 16 lbs 13.5 oz(somewhere between 25% and 50%), 25.5 inches tall (25%) and have a 50th percentile head. The doctor said that he expects kids your age to slow in growth and that everything is normal and you look fine and we’ll be continuing on our quest to add to your diet. Wish me luck.

Love,

Mom

Clear as Mud

When last we spoke, our heroine was whining about cheese and milk. And she asked for your donation suggestions. And we received 5 very thoughtful suggestions. I was going to put it up for a poll, but I think we’ve just decided that the Children's Art Project is who I’ll write the check out to. The other charities are really cool, and I will keep them in mind for future donations.

While other bloggers ate in all month, or ate cereal to save money, I thought I could save more money by doing what I normally do anyway. (Here’s where the water starts getting murky, but bear with me.) I have a very extensive budget. So extensive in fact, that I can tell you now if I spent $200 on something frivolous, if it will put us in the hole in December of 2009. That’s true and not true at the same time though, because I under estimate our income from our pay checks, we always get an income tax refund, which is not put in there, when we get rebates, they are deposited in there. And I over estimate our bills, sometimes by $5 or so, sometimes by as much as $100. It’s not fool-proof by any means, groceries and gas are not accounted for, and neither are general household purchases like furniture. Our normally frivolous stuff like eating out or CDs or DVDs comes out of our allowance. Anyway, back to the point. In my normal monthly routine, I take half of the difference between the estimated bill and the real bill and put it in savings.

Estimated Bill = $350
Actual Bill = $300
Difference = $50
Into Savings = $25

And this month, I will be taking half of the sum of the savings amount and writing the check to the Children's Art Project, in the example above, $12.50 would go to the charity.

This month I was able to collect $50 that way. It’s not much, but $50 is more than I’ve donated to any other charity at one time before.

Oy with the poodles already!

Enough with the drama of last week…well, the drama of last Wednesday. I don’t like drama. I don’t like it one bit. I do not like it, Sam, I am. The final straw, so to speak, of drama turned me into a puddle of weepy madness on my kitchen floor yesterday when I got home from work.

So, we were headed to a meat market in Santa Fe Wednesday night after work, and I went home to meet Clint before going to pick up Landon, so we could go straight there. I walked in the back door, and..hey, what’s that light over there…OH MY GOD IT’S THE FREEZER!!! I left the freezer drawer open just enough to thaw everything in there….everything. Ice cream, shrimp, ground beef, pork chops, bacon, chicken, some brisket (thankfully not a whole brisket), some smoked chicken, a bag of ice, frozen veggies, popsicles…oh, what’s that on the floor…dripping…purple stainey-ness all down the grout line across the kitchen floor…that would be my thawed blackberries…nice. That’s annoying enough to clean up. Apparently Scrubbing Bubbles spray, poured on the grout line seriously cleaned that up in minutes without scrubbing. Also ruined a couple of towels by bleaching them with the scrubbing bubbles stuff, but I kind of expected that.

The thing that made me cry into my towel as I wiped the floor of blackberry juice/scrubbing bubbles cocktail, the golden ticket, the one thing that I have been dutifully saving for 2 whole months…my basket of frozen breastmilk…thawed..completely. Much like everything else in the freezer…it cannot be re-frozen. I still haven’t poured it down the drain… it’s hard enough to look at the basket of little baggies, I haven’t been able to bring myself to touch them, because I know I will count them, and then I will know exactly how much was wasted. Without knowing, I can think “all that wasted time and effort,” and it’s still abstract, like it could be 3 hours, it could be 14 hours. After I count them, I will know, I’m sure it will be more than I envisioned. It was enough to leave him over the weekend for Jennifer’s wedding with my mother, I was worried about having enough and began the process of stockpiling to be sure. I have 2 weeks to replace it. And hopefully I will have enough.

It took me a good 3 hours to get over it. Well, not over it, but I’m not as mopey about it as I was. Plans abound, last night I set a second alarm clock to go off every 3 hours, whether Landon woke or not, I pumped, I didn’t get much, but the more I do it, the more I’ll have. He’s turning 6 months this week, so with the introduction of cereal this week, we’ll get to store some that he normally would eat during those feeding times. I think I can make it…I think I can , I think I can.

He’s mad too: